Heart of a Villain
by Aisalynn
Summary: "Fine" was a relative term: her head and back were throbbing, she had flying monkey claws digging into her arms, and there was a sharp pain in her wrist from when one of the monkey's ripped her hand away from her holster. But, considering the situation, she could deal.


By the time they realized the next totem was Gold's spinning wheel they were too late: it was gone from the storm cellar and so was Gold. Emma and Hook searched the house, but again, nothing. No sign of Gold, or Zelena. For all they knew she hadn't been back to the farmhouse since they stumbled upon it. They had just given up searching when Emma's phone buzzed, signaling that she had a text.

"We may have a lead after all," she told Hook as she slipped the phone back into her pocket.

"What is it?"

"That was David. Apparently Robin found where the flying monkeys have been hiding. They're on the move now, and Robin and David are trying to follow them."

Hook's mouth curled up into a smirk as he glanced out the window and at the night sky. "Well, then I think we better go meet them, lend them a hand. Perhaps these flying beasts will lead us directly to our Wicked Witch."

They didn't need the monkeys. They weren't half way through the small stretch of woods separating them from the car when they ran right into her. Or rather, she stepped out of the shadow of a few trees and leisurely walked directly in front of them.

"Looking for me?" In the dim moonlight Emma could see that Zelena had given up the pretense of the humble midwife, leaving behind the loose gray skirts and practical shoes and donning instead a long sleeved, tight black dress and heels, a hat sitting tilted on top of a pile of riotous curls and a splash of bright red staining her smiling lips.

The whole ensemble reminded her strangely of Regina.

"As a matter of fact-" Hook surged forward, hand reaching for the sword at his hip.

He didn't get two steps before a mass of fur and feathers landed on top of them. Emma reached for her gun, but it was no use: two of the monkeys had grabbed her, each yanking one arm behind her back as they dragged her off the trail. They threw her roughly against a tree, her head cracking against the bark with sharp shock of pain. In front of her Hook was getting the same treatment, his sword abandoned on the ground as three of them forced him against the tree opposite her.

"Swan! Swan, are you alright?"

Emma blinked, forcing herself to push past the pain in her skull and look up to meet Hook's worried gaze. "I'm fine," she croaked.

"Fine" was a relative term: her head and back were throbbing, she had flying monkey claws digging into her arms, and there was a sharp pain in her wrist from when one of the monkey's ripped her hand away from her holster. But, considering the situation, she could deal.

Zelena stepped in between them, lightly kicking the sword on the ground aside. "That's better, isn't it?"

"Better would involve me pointing my gun to your chest," Emma ground out.

Zelena smiled. "Oh, Emma," she said lightly as walked towards her, "always the Savior aren't you? Never get to be anything else. Even when you had the chance someone—" she glanced back at Hook "—had to bring you right back in."

"I believe you did that when you sent one of these things to masquerade as my boyfriend." She jerked her arms, trying and failing to pull out of the monkeys' grasp.

"Technically Walsh was sent to you to make sure you didn't come back," Zelena corrected. "Still, I think it very rude of you not to say hello to your would be fiancé." She nodded to the monkey to the right of Emma and it howled, flapping its wings in her face as it dug its nails harder into her arms.

"I couldn't care less which one of these monsters you sent after me," Emma snapped. "I want to know what you are after. Another totem? You're not getting one from me."

Taking Regina's advice, Emma had left behind anything of real sentimental value for her: Graham's shoelace, the necklace Neal had given her before he died. She even left her yellow bug behind, instead borrowing David's truck. Even Hook had done this, abandoning the silver hook he preferred and using instead the black leather hand he sometimes wore instead. They didn't want to take any chances that they would be turned into a tool for Zelena to use like David's sword hilt had.

But Zelena just laughed, her head titling back so that her hair fell down her neck in a tumble of curls. "It's good to know that all of you are still a step behind."

"What do you mean?" Hook asked. Emma looked over the witch's shoulder to catch his eye, glad he was on the same page. David and Robin were following the monkeys. If they could keep her distracted long enough they would have help.

"I mean," Zelena replied, still addressing Emma, "is that while it is true that I needed a totem for the first two items, I'm afraid the third item that I need is much more complicated. You see, people place courage into the tools that they use to help them feel brave. Weapons like a sword or a bow or even," she flicked her eyes up and down Emma's red leather jacket before meeting her eyes with a slow smile, "their armor."

Emma stiffened and Zelena's smile grew wider.

"It's the same for the mind," she continued, "I'm afraid Rumplesiltskin had been using that spinning wheel to 'clean the mind' and 'soothe the soul' long before I met him. It was only the fact that he had absorbed Neal that stopped the spell from working sooner. But _love_," she stepped closer to Emma, her breath ghosting against her cheek as she spoke softly. "Love-when it is true-is the most powerful thing on this earth, and that power cannot be contained in a mere totem. No, to harness that power, you need the source. You need the heart_."_

Emma relaxed as she felt a wave of relief hit her. She leaned her head against the tree and smirked at Zelena. "Well then, I'm afraid you're out of luck. Because mine can't be taken."

Zelena shook her head pityingly. "Oh, Emma," she said again. "For this spell to work the person I take the power from has to believe in themselves, in what makes them what they are. And your weak, fragile little heart has barely learned how to love again. You hardly listen to it, let alone believe in what it is telling you." She stepped back from Emma, still giving her that pitying smile. "_Your_ heart is of no use to me."

It was only when Zelena turned on her heel and started to march toward Hook that Emma realized what she meant to do.

"No. Hook!" she shouted. She struggled to get free, yanking and pulling at the grip of the two monkeys who held her. But they were too strong. One of them—Walsh—grabbed her shoulder and slammed her back into the tree with enough force to make her vision blur over.

When it cleared Zelena was directly in front of Hook. There were two monkey's holding him still as he attempted to struggle, a third one clinging to a branch above him, one furry hand grasping Hook's hair and pulling his head back, exposing his neck and chest.

"Zelena!" Emma spat out, wishing she could reach that power inside her-that magic that just last week allowed her to rip Neal and Gold apart—so that she could stop her, _hurt_ her, but nothing happened, and all she could do was look at Hook as he said her name.

"Emma." His eyes were frightened, sorrowful, and she found herself shaking her head, willing him to somehow fight it, get away. But before she could say anything Zelena raised one daintily gloved hand and thrust deep into his chest.

Emma cried out as, in one quick movement, Zelena pulled her arm back, ripping Hook's heart from him. "Hook," she said again, quietly this time, not even realizing the name had fallen from her lips.

The monkeys let go of Hook's arms and he slumped to his knees with a groan, hand clutching at his chest. Zelena didn't even bother to look at him, too focused on the heart in her hand as she turned and walked back towards Emma.

"Now this is a heart worthy of the spell," she told her. "The heart of a villain turned hero by love." She smirked and held out heart for Emma to see. "See, even with the darkness tainting the heart it still glows bright."

Vaguely, Emma heard noise from the distance, coming somewhere from behind Zelena, but she paid no attention it. She couldn't take her eyes off the heart in Zelena's satin gloved hand. The witch was right. Even with parts of the heart completely black it still pulsated with a deep, glowing red. Emma's eyes flickered to Hook, who was still kneeling on the ground, unmoving.

"Why," Zelena said softly, "look at this." She came close to Emma again, and with the hand not holding the heart she reached out and gently brushed a finger against Emma's cheek. "Tears."

Emma roughly pulled her face away, and the witch turned back to Hook. "It seems she loved you after all, pirate." A cruel smile curved her red lips. "Not that it will matter to you now."

Behind her the noise grew louder, and Emma could see the beams of flashlights through the trees.

"Well," Zelena said briskly, "It seems it is time for me to go. The Calvary has arrived. A bit late, I'm afraid, but still-time I'm off. "She marched over to a tree to the left of Emma, and pulled out a broom from behind it. "Let's go," she snapped at the monkeys, and with one last smile to Emma, and with Hook's heart still beating in her hand, she sat sidesaddle on the broom and lifted off into the sky.

The monkeys released Emma and followed a second later, and she wasted no time, running to Hook as soon she was let go.

"Hook! Hook, are you alright?" She slid to her knees beside him, one hand grabbing his shoulder. She could hear David calling her name in the woods and she looked up, over Hooks head and into the trees where she could see the form of people heading their way. "We're over here!" she called back and then turned back to Hook, shaking him a little. "Hook, can you hear me?"

"I'm fine," he said woodenly, lifting his hand from the spot on his chest and holding it out, palm facing her. "The pain is gone." He looked up, blinking slightly as if he had just woken, expression blank.

Before he could say anything else David was running towards them, Robin, Reginia and the rest of the merry men not far behind. David pulled her up from her crouch, both hands braced on her shoulders as he peered concernedly at her face. "Are you okay? We saw the witch fly out from here."

She shook her head, pulling away. "I'm fine. But Hook—"she paused, and caught Regina's eye over David's shoulder. "Zelena took his heart." There was an audible gasp and mutters from the other, but Emma ignored them, focusing only on Regina.

"Of course," the other woman murmured, "the third item. A totem wouldn't have been strong enough for love."

Emma nodded, "That's what she told me."

"Well, at least we know what three items she using for the spell now. From that we can figure out what she is doing and stop her. Until then," she gestured to Hook, "we should lock him up. If she has his heart she can control him. We have no way of knowing that anything he says or does is not actually her."

Hook finally stood up. "I have a feeling that's not what she wanted my heart for."

David slapped hand down on his shoulder. "All the same, we should probably keep an eye on you."

Hook shrugged, uncaring. His face still had that blank, empty expression, and Emma felt something twisting in the pit of her stomach. She couldn't help but compare it to the expression on Hook's face right before Zelena ripped out his heart, or remember the way he said her name—not as a plea for help, but as an apology, as if he was letting her down. She looked down at her arms, at the rips and tears in the red leather from the monkeys' claws and took a deep breath, steadying herself.

"I'm going to get your heart back," she told him, raising her eyes to meet his expressionless ones. "I promise," she said fiercely, "I will find Zelena, and I will get it back."

No one said anything, and Emma finally looked away from Hook to meet David's concerned stare and Regina's skeptical one with her own determined glare, then she turned on her heel, and started walking back to the car.


End file.
